For accuracy I thought I would add something about the salting process of HF.

In addition to the video I first posted, I've since watched one of The Big Cheese episodes on the Cooking Channel here in the US. In the episode on Beer and Cheese pairings, the host Jason Sobocinski, went to Cypress Grove Chevre and helped make HF with Mary Keehn. Jason and Mary both formed and ashed a HF themselves while the labor force was going to town on the rest of the batch. As he was describing the ashing process he tasted the ash and described it as tasteless but VERY salty. This salty ash was used for the middle layer and the outer coating. Nothing was mentioned about the curd being already salted, they were just grabbing a ball of drained and quite dry curd form a bin.

I suspect the salted ash is all they use to salt their HF. I can say myself that in my batch that turned out quite well (except too much moisture) I only salted with the ash and the saltiness level was about the same as when I tasted real HF side by side. I used standard proportion of salt/ash the bottle of ash said to use. It is definitely drawn into the cheese during aging.

Please don't think I'm saying any other way is wrong. I just wanted to add a piece to the puzzle.

Thanks for the insights! So you don't think the curd got mixed with salt during that time when they talk about it being mixed to it's perfect texture? I just re-watched the video and he says something about the mixing and shows a big mixing machine...I wondered if salt had been mixed in then.

Here are my two fog-ish cheese experiments. I put in molds after the pre-drain etc. already described. I used some grains in jars set into other molds as followers to provide a little weight to consolidate the cheese. Very little whey drained out. They are fairly firm although the curds weren't very dry but were very rich and oily. I did mill with the curds with some salt. Did not salt on the outside since I brined them for 12 hours. You can see the firmness in the photo where it's on it's side just after the pressing.

One of them is ashed and a Star Anise seed pod gently pressed into the top. I won't be flipping this one, just moving it a bit so it won't stick to the mat. I may buy some fruit liquor to wash this with. I'll wait for the PC to get ahold first though. Keeping with the "fog" theme for names maybe I'll call this "Starry Mist".

The other I dusted with ash and then dusted it with smoked paprika. My plan is to let the PC get going and then wash with brandy or whiskey to see how that goes. I believe from my last experiment of washing with the whiskey that it'll knock back the PC a bit and expose some of the paprika giving it a lovely melange of rich colors. I might call this one "Red Brandy Haze" or "Brandy Red Haze".

Opened too soon at 14 days. needs at least 30 even for such a small format. all though you can see a bit of slip skin starting on the corner which is very odd given the lower moisture, use of GEO and cool aging.

Good taste, acidic but not tart. a bit crumbly. I think needs more butteryness, maybe MD culture in addition or lower ripening temp.The truffles give a nice pungent taste and aroma. Overall, A house staple. Will be making plenty more.

I wraped in cling film half of it and put it back into the fridge for a week.

Logged

Amatuar winemaker,baker, cook and musician not in any particular order.

So, my experiments continue on. I have 3 batches of Foggish type cheeses ripening. I have decided to wash them all with Honey flavored Whiskey. Some of them I've put a Star Anise seed pod on top and one of them, the big one, has one in the middle of the cheese also. (if I'm remembering correctly, I'm a bit brain dead from lack of sleep)

I did one pair of these cheese with some beet powder and hoped it would create a nice red layer under the ash that would be exposed when washing with whiskey but the beet powder lost it's color. Darn!

The large version is the only one I have photos of after the whiskey wash. The others I forgot. I'm planning on washing a number of times each time the PC recovers. I haven't decided when they'll get wrapped and put in fridge.

Maybe I should call it spider cheese! What's amazing to me is how much flavor the star anise adds to the cheese. At least, on smaller ones it does. I'm curious how much it'll be noticeable on this larger one although with another seed pod inside maybe it'll work well and be flavorful.

Tomer, I am still learning about my molds, but isn't that PC on your form? I have innoculated Geo in a chevre I made, but it was dominated by PC- a contamination in my cave, which I hopefully resolved yesterday. Anyway, I thought that Geo made a harder rind, and not that thick one? How do you differentiate the two? I looked for google images online, but for the Geotrichum, they were either under a microscope, or not very helpful...-Celine

Tomer, I am still learning about my molds, but isn't that PC on your form? I have innoculated Geo in a chevre I made, but it was dominated by PC- a contamination in my cave, which I hopefully resolved yesterday. Anyway, I thought that Geo made a harder rind, and not that thick one? How do you differentiate the two? I looked for google images online, but for the Geotrichum, they were either under a microscope, or not very helpful...-Celine

Celine, hope you don't mind me saying something in response to your post to Tomer. Geo comes in a bunch of different forms that look different. That's the first thing.....the second things that I know about Geo is that it is usually a somewhat slippery (and often shiny) thing whereas PC is more matte. PC and Geo sometimes seem to be happening at the same time but I think I read somewhere that Geo starts and PC happens next..... hope some experts reply..... -Kathrin

Hey Kathrin, thanks for the response. I am making crottin, which should be covered in just Geo, no PC, and it should give sort of a wormy-texture to the cheese. Here is a pic of what it should look like...I am just a little confused between the two I guess, I can definitely recognize that what I have is PC, and not geo, I have just noticed that you all seem to distinguish so easily between the two-I was hoping to be enlightened

Okay, newbie response here......for me it seems like the Geo is more translucent and ivory while the PC is matte and white, not translucent at all. BUT, I have very little experience and with only Geo 13 and Geo 17 and the 17 I just got recently. I think I've been told that you can control whether Geo or PC dominates by your conditions. Like so much else it seems to be a condition of bio-terrain that control what shows up. For instance, I always get a wild blue (not PR, maybe a yeast even) on all my hard cheeses but it can't gain a foothold upon white bloomies or when certain other molds are present. For instance, my experience with Mycodore was that it dominated and kept everything else away.

Because I'm not selling cheese I play a bit and don't worry if I don't reach the outcome I aimed for initially. I also figure that on many old farmsteads historically there wasn't the option of separate aging cellars or plastic box mini-caves and that somehow they had more than one kind of cheese co-exist. (all without bleach, ozone machines, etc) I'm playing with seeing what is possible by controlling the bio-terrain of each type of cheese to, in effect, either out out or hide the "Welcome Mat".

On all my hard rind cheeses I've never felt that PC gained any traction. I might see a dusting of white but that dusts off if I want. Oh, and on soft blooms the Geo shows up first to prepare the way for the PC. but I see a mix of Geo and PC in your photo I think.

Photos above, thin black line of mushrooms. I'l be more generous next time.

It adds alot of flavor and aroma but it doesnt spread to the rest of the paste, only where it is eaten. I think mixing it up instead of a line will be tastier but perhaps less pretty

That crottin looks amazing. I got to try making some. how long do they rippen?

I have no idea how long it will take to ripen these.......I just guess. I'm not sure how long to wait for the big ones. I'm not sure I'd call them crottin but maybe that is what a Humboldt Fog is? I am in the midst of kidding season. I'll see if I can attach a short video of why I'm not on top of cheese care these days. . Warning, cuteness alert is in order.